The reconstruction of New Orleans- Post Hurricane Katrina

The reconstruction of New Orleans: Post Hurricane Katrina Abstract A synopsis of Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic damage it caused for the city of New Orleans.. This report will c

Eastern Michigan University

The reconstruction of New Orleans: Post Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

A synopsis of Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic damage it caused for the city of New Orleans The number concern for the city of New Orleans is “reconstruction.” This paper is an examination of the reconstruction efforts and the government’s priorities after the devastating damage created from the cities levee system that was inadequate in function to sustain a storm of Hurricane Katrina’s magnitude Research, reports, interviews and first-hand accounts create an interesting analysis of the reconstruction efforts This report will challenge the ideas of bureaucracy, oligarchy, and the theories of ethnic cleansing practices, resulting in the current status of New Orleans reconstruction and reformation within the “Big Easy.”

Hurricane Katrina, 2005 Social aspects Louisiana New Orleans, Disaster relief Social aspects New

Orleans History 21st century, Housing Louisiana New Orleans, New Orleans (La.) Social conditions 21st century

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF NEW ORLEANS: POST HURRICANE KATRINA

By December S Venson

A Senior Thesis Submitted To The Eastern Michigan University Honors College

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation

with Honors in Sociology

Approved at Ypsilanti, Michigan, on this date November 29, 2007

Senior Honors Thesis

Abstract

Author: December S Venson

Department: Anthropology, Criminology, Sociology

bureaucracy, oligarchy, and the theories of ethnic cleansing practices, resulting in the current status of New Orleans reconstruction and reformation within the “Big Easy.”

Introduction

New Orleans: A City under Reconstruction

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the many different effects of hurricane Katrina on the City of New Orleans and the rest of the world The great city of New Orleans dealt with a natural disaster with little state or federal support until days into the crisis Many high ranking officials were well aware of the threat that a storm of Katrina’s magnitude could pose for a city with levees In addition, prior to hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was overdue for an overhaul of its law, government, and education systems There were thousands of families within the city unprepared for a storm that could destroy their entire livelihood The recovery efforts as of this date have been slow and ineffective

Research on this paper brought many different areas of concern to the surface One question should be asked in a blunt phrase Who has to gain from the city and its new plans for

reconstruction? Many evacuees were those of lower income status; they were relocated to many other cities and states outside of the disaster areas Residents who were able to evacuate did so not knowing whether they were going to have anything left when they returned Upon returning many New Orleans citizens are choosing to leave the city all together and start a new life

elsewhere Their exit has not been met with much resistance High crime, rent increases and elevated insurance premiums have resulted in many new orleanians leaving the city they loved behind (Shaila Dewan 2007: 1A) Although many of these issues were known prior to Katrina, they have now exceeded the tolerance level of many New Orleans residents

The Aftermath

Many well educated and middle class New Orleans residents are now faced with the hard choice of remaining under tragic and destitute conditions or leaving and starting “anew” else where The city cannot withstand a complete loss of educated and middle class residents who along with their assets could contribute to the well being of the city According to the American Red Cross, Hurricane Katrina alone destroyed an estimated 275,000 housing units House

Resolution 4100 was a bill sponsored by Representative Richard Baker of Louisiana’s 6th

District (The Louisiana Recovery ACT 2005) This bill favors property owners who face

hardships due to Katrina and its resulting damage Therefore, the program benefits owners who have their property purchased by LRC (Louisiana Recovery Corporation) up to $500,000 dollars with options on how to rebuild Now keep in mind that the funds used to purchase properties from the owners are from bonds issued from the State Treasury department The property would then be auctioned off to private developers only after infrastructure repairs are made The

proceeds would allow the bonds to be repaid

The Greater Population of New Orleans

The greater population of New Orleans is made up of lower income subsidy - eligible citizens, many of whom were displaced after Katrina Within these masses were also

homeowners who lived from paycheck to paycheck with the required minimal housing

insurance They ask now, “What has Louisiana offered us in regards to our homes and repairs?” The 4100 bill has yet to offer options of repair and mortgage forgiveness to these citizens This is because The Federal Road Home program has yet to provide relief for many neighborhoods in need of repair On Thursday June 14th 2007, many New Orleans-area residents marched from the

Lamonthe stated she has waited since 2005 for assistance from the program designed to help many New Orleans residents Lamonthe says she was offered $30,000 to elevate her home and that was not enough to make the necessary repairs The marchers are questioning the facts

regarding the $5 billion Road Home shortfall “They said at first they had enough to cover

everybody What happened to that money?’’ Lamonthe asked Francine Lamonthe has been away from her home for 21 months following Katrina and has to commute from Baton Rouge, where she resides with relatives The mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin and many other city officials marched with concerned New Orleans citizens and their families

reallocated state cash She will be asking federal officials to fill the remaining gap The delay comes from the department of Federal Emergency Management Agency (Gyan 2007)

Even so, The New York Times reported that the cost for the road home project will cost well over the previous estimated $7.5 billion due to many more families applying than anticipated Louisiana recipients could receive up to $150,000 dollars to repair or rebuild (Eaton 2007) This could possibly mean that Francine Lamonthe as mentioned above may be able to get her appeal granted due to a larger amount of funds being allocated for The Road Home project Not

surprising the financial problems of the project has lead to several rounds of the “blame game”

and finger-pointing This occurs when an organization fails to hold up its end of responsibility

The federal government should and has been well versed in the events of disasters and public

havoc Yet, the government failed to develop an effective chain of command

Centralizing decision making only works when the people in charge are competent

Many federal organizations function at capacity and the main key organizations fail to produce

effective key resolutions (Westrum 2007: 4) In order to have been effective, President Bush and Governor Blanco needed to stay on top of the renovations funds for New Orleans Out of

140,000 applicants, only 22,000 families have received funds for renovating their homes and only expending 1.3 billion out of the total allocated for this purpose (Eaton 2007) There is something seriously wrong with this ratio Top government officials have the power to spend fund(s) for their other agendas Why is New Orleans not there top agenda? After 9/11 President Bush quickly implemented action plans to fund a massive war for search for weapons of mass destruction which have never been found

Other Responsible Sectors

Many private insurance agencies have not honored claims to their insured customers The government expected these insurance agencies to pay for damages incurred by Katrina victims New Orleans citizens paid monthly premiums to there private insurance companies with expectation they would be covered in the event a natural and resulting property damage On the other hand, the National Flood Insurance paid out to claimants as promised Most government relief funds for Katrina victims pay only after private insurance companies have paid their share Then they normally pay the difference Because of this tow years after Katrina costs have

President Bush and his administration blame the state of Louisiana for creating the shortfall by paying for home damage caused by wind, rather than limiting the program to flood damage Insurance policies are more likely to cover wind damage than flood damage (Eaton 2007) Donald E Powell, President Bush’s coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding, stated in an email, that he would make good on more funds if the state could provide viable cause! Why would this tragedy where this natural disaster caused millions of people to be without homes not occur viable? Ironically, responsible leaders in government have dragged their feet Mr Powell states, that he is willing to settle this matter quickly Further he indicated his willingness to sit down with the Governor of Louisiana to resolve this situation

However, FEMA said it cannot release money intended for hazard-mitigation efforts for elevating homes FEMA blames the Road Home for discriminating against younger citizens by exempting people 65 and older from a requirement that grant recipients live in their rebuilt houses for three years (Eaton 2007) Moreover some democrat officials for the state of Louisiana feel that the responsibility does not lie just with the Federal Government but the state of

Louisiana as well

A group of former insurance adjusters created a case against their former insurance agencies filing a “whistleblower” lawsuit stating the practices and conduct of business by the insurance companies were inadequate and illegal The allegations refer to plans of insurance companies, shifting payout cost to the tax payer supported flood insurance program, with the hopes of lessoning the amount they owe to homeowners (Eaton, Treaster 2007) Excessive insurance rates for home and property insurance, has delayed and discouraged builders from

constructing rental housing This then has caused a huge dilemma for non-profit agencies

attempting to provide housing for elderly and indigent citizens

to the fact the levees have not been renovated in almost a decade The problem may lie with the need to cover the levees with a substantial material such as concrete or something of that nature However the Corps feels they are doing what is best fit for the levees and that a harder material will not fix the problem (Bourne, Schwartz 2007: 17A1)

Nevertheless, there needs to be less bureaucracy and more collaboration among the responsible groups to ensure the safety of citizens of New Orleans Lawsuits and fighting over who is to blame will not solve the problem at hand, during such tirades another storm could hit at anytime, then what? Again it is up to individuals who hold power to bring together collaborating

minds to reconstruct the levees with sufficient collaborative scenarios and plans in place to ensure they work properly Perhaps a more Organic approach to the repair of the levees would serve as promising outcome Each person with power should take the issues directly to

individuals in charge of the repairs

Angels in Action

Hope is not all diminished…

There are many private organizations and well known contributors to the survivors of Katrina In November 2006, Oprah™ Angel Network and Habitat for Humanity® began

building a fifth “Oprah Katrina Homes” community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for families impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Angel Lane Oprah.com).Oprah's Angel Network donated $11 million dollars to Americas Second Harvest to purchase and distribute food, water, and household supplies to survivors in Louisiana as well as Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas Oprah Winfrey took it upon herself to ensure she placed all available contact numbers and organization relief names for individuals who would like to contribute and or contact these entities on her website For six days post Katrina Oprah called on her staff, friends and

colleagues to assist with relief efforts Oprah traveled to Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee, she arrived on the coast with convoy trucks loaded with food, water and basic

necessities This goes back to the notion of one person taking control, a person whom may not hold any real power in government or otherwise, quickly became a bureaucracy of one She did what she knew needed to be done to help the victims of Katrina As the president of the United States flew above the states aboard Air Force One, Oprah and her staff were on the ground giving there time love and money to those in dire straits

FEMA did not release desperately needed goods, foods, or sufficient supplies; and often this was caused by not having a single routing number and the approval to move forward The USS Bataan, a ship well equipped and prepared to assist the thousands of people in need, was turned back, by FEMA’s director Michael Chertoff Chertoff was un-trained and ill-prepared for the events that took place along the gulf coast (Westrum 2007: 4) A bureaucracy that failed in many areas However, in the most of these failures there stood many angels in the light giving what they could to the Katrina victims

After Hurricane Katrina, Oprah asked all her viewers to open their hearts As of

September 2006, donations to the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry total more than $11 million Homes have been built in four states—Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama—before the one year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Oprah.com, Philanthropy) Among the many great individuals assisting Katrina victims, is a well known physician by the name of Dr Mehmet Oz; also known on the Oprah show as “Dr Oz”, who omit you will read below, he was completely un-prepared for what he encountered in New Orleans Dr Oz says, "It's pretty

desperate here They're not drinking They're not eating A lot of folks are passing out You can smell death in the air Just feces and excrement and human sweat." He goes on to say; “But if you can imagine, the situation on the streets of New Orleans is just as grim.” "I've walked these streets dozens of times; I could never imagine this happening to New Orleans: a dead body in the middle of a street," says Dr Oz "You'd never think this is possible in an American city But literally all we can do right now is put chairs in front of him so he doesn't get run over by cars Amazing to read, that such an ordeal has occurred right here in an American city (Dr Oz 2005)

Lisa Ling is a reporter who has traveled to many war zones around the world Yet she felt overwhelmed by the chaotic scene she witnessed right here on American soil In her own words; Lisa met many families that told the same horrific stories of their ordeal in the Superdome, the very place that was supposed to serve as a safe haven Shaken by their stories, Lisa felt

compelled to question the way authorities responded: "If this had happened to an affluent, white community, would people have had to wait for five days in a dangerous, dark, disgustingly dirty environment, or would something have been done? This is America, that's the thing that is most disconcerting about this," says Lisa (Berkus, Ling 2005)

Faith Hill and "Tim (McGraw, her husband) knew that we had to do something They did one simple task to begin they contacted the American Red Cross and asked, “What can we do? What can we bring?'" She was given a list of specifics that she and Tim quickly placed into action They obtained three semis and their very own personal bus They began calling close friends and family," says Faith "We were able to do a major attack on the city of Nashville in one day and it was just mind-blowing how the community came together," she adds (Hill, McGraw 2005)

Matthew McConaughey was of many Celebrities there to offer assistance and did so in so many ways Matthew (2005) says that his expectations prior to arriving in New Orleans were not that defined" "I knew what I knew from the television I saw quite a bit of destruction I didn't understand necessarily the scope of it I'm still trying to digest what I think we're all going to have to digest for some time There's so much work to do The one thing that is pure about helping out with a tragedy like this is service Share what you have And that's the best way we know." McConaughey (2005)

Habitat for Humanity has stepped in and taken responsibility for helping rebuild many locations within New Orleans They are heading a project called the “Musicians Village” a row

of brightly colored homes mainly to be sold to musicians, musicians whom make Mardi Gras what it is musically each year The site sits on 81 acres that was in the past, an old junior high school Seventy-one homes will be built here and they will sell for $75,000 plus the sweat and equity it takes to build them With the Habitat for Humanity each person qualifying for a home has to contribute so many “sweat hours” into the building of there very own home Seventy to eighty percent of these homes will be sold to musicians The buildings are raised 67 inches off the ground due to the high water marks left on other building near by Katrina flooding Note that the 67 inches is two inches higher than the recommended footage the federal Emergency

Management Agency made effective policy (Pareles 2007)

A Larger Housing Crisis

To add to the chaos mentioned in this report, thousands of evacuees since Katrina have been living in trailers set up by the government as emergency housing The government

announced that evacuees will be offered the chance to purchase these trailers for a few hundred dollars Those whom don’t purchase will have to rent per month at the cost of $50 which will soon to increase The Federal Emergency Management Agency runs the trailer program It is reported that roughly around 86,000 families are still living in the trailers This is astonishing due

to the fact Katrina occurred two years ago The majority of the trailers reside in Louisiana, although about 26,000 families occupy trailers in Mississippi, said R David Paulison (Eaton 2007) Eighty percent of those families living in trailers are parked in people’s driveways or yards

According to government estimates, hurricanes Katrina and Rita collectively destroyed more than 200,000 homes These estimates include many apartments that, to date, have yet to be rebuilt The state of Louisiana recently announced that it had awarded $202 million in federal funds to help small landlords restore more than 5,200 rental units There is no mention of

guidelines as to whether these small landlords would take the money for restoration then sell there property for higher profit to a non local wealthy developer looking to capitalize off of this potential harvest land of wealth

One could predict that the problem of few apartments being readily available to rent makes way for rental rates to soar along the Gulf Coast This presents a new problem for the already homeless, post Katrina victims of New Orleans unable to afford rental rates; thus they are unable to return home There may be some light at the end of the tunnel for those whom thought they would not be able to afford to reside in the home town of New Orleans April of

2007 FEMA turned over controlling reigns to the Department of Housing and Urban

Development They will now head the rental assistance program HUD has long standing

expertise in running long term housing Why FEMA was given this task In the first place, is still

to be answered

The community organized group Acorn, sued the federal government because of the manner in which it handled post-hurricane housing programs Acorn praised the extension on housing and the program’s shift to HUD The housing department now has the task of finding adequate housing for the families not able to purchase the trailers and for those whom would like

to not live in such a cramped reminder of the disaster For a family to go from a single family

home to a trailer can be mentally depressing To make matters worse there has been a

class-action lawsuit filed in Baton Rouge federal court that claims “hundreds of thousands” of people

in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama may have been exposed to the carcinogen Formaldehyde Named as defendants are Forest River Inc and “other, as yet unnamed travel trailer vendors to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” (Brown 2007)

Allegations are that many families have been exposed to dangerously high concentrations

of formaldehyde fumes; but, they have no choice but to accept their horrible situation The trailers in question are the 120,000 temporary trailers FEMA supplied to those displaced by the

2005 storm The Sierra Club conducted indoor air quality testing of 34 trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi and all but two had aerial formaldehyde levels above those considered safe

Formaldehyde is used in a number of materials inside the trailers, including particle board, plywood, glue, curtains, molded plastic and countertops As of May 2007, FEMA had received

140 formaldehyde complaints (Eaton 2007) With the onset of these allegations as well as the lawsuit filed, FEMA and HUD have distributed information on proper trailer ventilation to occupants Fifty trailer units have been replaced to date FEMA says they will no longer

purchase trailers containing materials made with the carcinogen Formaldehyde

New Orleans Police Department

New Orleans has several police stations operating out of temporary trailers Officers are working out of trailers for an evidence room housed in the back of an 18-wheeler truck, and a makeshift crime lab set up at a nearby university Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Sen David Vitter, R-La., met before a congressional panel to discuss the rising crime waves post Katrina The city of New Orleans has not fully regained control of crime The police stations and the city

jail facilities that were destroyed during Katrina have yet to be rebuilt The violence taking over the city has gotten out of hand, argue many officials

However without the adequate means to function properly, NOPD argues they have a slim to zero chance of fighting crime and housing criminals Criminals are well aware of the city’s crippling position Only four out of the 11 jails serving the city have reopened, says

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Conn “The COPS program has been cut to send police money to Baghdad,” Leahy said (Shields 2007:16A)Despite numerous criminal activities

throughout the city, the issue remains that there needs to be adequate buildings and facilities available to effectively carry out police functions It is not a shock that the state of Louisiana has moved very slow in regards to housing for its citizens, but it’s equally troubling the length of time it’s taking for municipal departments to have adequate facilities

The New Orleans Police department has suffered dramatic moral issues prior to Katrina and has been aggravated by the lower budget since Katrina Many would agree that New Orleans has always been affected negatively, by political influence, dating back to early 18-1900’s If the city could get its buildings projects functioning properly, morale could probably be raised

amongst police officials Through the hurricane Katrina tragedy, this may be what the city needs

to show the rest of the world that they are not running a corruption government Without proper facilities to house the criminals and suspects, the city has little to no chance of regaining and restoring power over crime What does this mean for the many displaced Katrina victims

wanting to return to the city of New Orleans? Will these individuals want to return to a broken city unable to uphold justice? For those whom want to invest in New Orleans for business

ventures, will this city be able to provide security? For those residents that were part of the

growing criminal problem, are finding it hard to return to the city they once knew as home As many of the cities housing projects are now being torn down and rebuilt to house the middleclass with integration of low income residents The housing projects accounted for more than half of the cities crimes As lower income, low education and a secluded means of living created a habitat of despair, many residents had to find any means to survive It is believed that the efforts the city has made so far are those of which to filter out the bad and flood in the good The city of New Orleans is in need of criminal overhaul and justice based legal systems Before Katrina the police of the lower ninth, sixth and third wards would systematically walk the beat in the housing projects daily However, as many of the city’s police departments suffer gravely from depleted numbers, they don’t have the man power to run these programs within the ghettos Previously the housing projects of New Orleans housed a great deal of respected and loving residents that cared for their community This fact however does not overshadow the high rate of crime, drug

activity, and murder(s) to which projects have fallen victim Before Katrina, it is reported that the Lafitte housing project located in the 6th ward succumbed to four murders; four in 2003, seven in

2004, and one in 2005 (Reckdahl 2006: 6)

Low Income Housing

-Project Housing of New Orleans- Many of New Orleans housing projects were built over fifty years ago The section 8 and HUD housing programs are well overdue for revision as they have been aggressively

approaching rebuilding for market-rate and subsidized housing Creating these new

neighborhoods are the future priorities of the government and the state of New Orleans

Reconstruction plans consist of tearing down existing housing to make way for new

developments of mixed income housing The 80% of low income residents that are waiting to

return home are opposed to the new idea of reform housing.Is it really possible to place people with problems they had prior to Katrina in new housing that is worth more equity than the

“below median” they were required to pay?

New Orleans lower income areas were gravely destroyed by Katrina; these were mostly federally zoned sections of entire neighborhoods of subsidized housing These neighborhoods of great poverty were not formed by mutual uniformity but created by deliberate government

choices that placed poor minorities into less desirable areas of the city Without question many of these families would like to return to there way of life However the new Section 8 plans are geared towards more of self substance and racial diversity amongst neighbors There are many new government and state level plans in action to ensure individuals are equipped to function and maintain personal sufficiency, without the government being too much of a reliable crutch for those who choose or were products of social construction; not to educate and seek training on there own without force from “ill-functional ran” programs Social Science has shown that integrating people amongst those whom have a visual difference and background proves to be rewarding and empowering Research on poverty and housing shows that a high number of poor individuals wish to move towards economic opportunity but often are daunted by the search process and the emotional disruption of moving

Unfortunately the same fate applies to the working poor The events of Katrina have placed the city of New Orleans in a high risk bracket of reconstruction Insurance agencies are protecting their underwriting agreements by charging higher rates for damage and natural

disaster premiums As the expense of building rises and the addition of insurance premiums; far less affordable housing will be built This creates an impending problem for the working class

citizens who fall below the median to afford market-rate rent Whether educated or the other, the rate of rental properties and housing units has forced an extremely sensitive situation into a plethora of new problems

Housing placement services assist housing citizens in need of coaching throughout the application process Conspiracy theories postulate that the levees of Louisiana were left as they were to eradicate certain areas of the state, to provide a situation of renewed building and a higher class of society It would seem that without the guarantee of a safe environment it’s not suitable for anyone Crime at the rates it’s maintained since Katrina, low income housing overall may not stand any chance of getting vouchers for housing within the familiar realms of

environment provided by the ghettos and housing projects Discernibly, only eleven percent of the nation’s public housing agencies are issuing the emergency vouchers for current HUD

certificate holders; which means many of the families with vouchers prior to Katrina are now without Section 8 and not receiving much assistance According to reports from HUD of the 5,146 displaced Housing Authority of New Orleans recipients, only about 2,300 have received vouchers and further more face the growing problem of finding landlords that will accept the vouchers (Reckdahl 2006: 8) this may be what lower income status families need to prove that they too are able to be productive in society without the need for so much of the governmental assistance Although the situation in its entirety may prove to be wayward, look at how the entire economy is functioning throughout the United States

A New Project

Many New Orleans natives are investing in Evacuee homes This new trend is ensuring they will have a safe and secure place to shelter personal belongings ensuring “all” is not lost in the event of another hurricane Katrina has prompted many new orleanians to figure out escape routes out of the city, where to park their second vehicles high enough to avoid water damage and vandalism Further they are keeping up with the hurricane seasons and when to best leave The outskirts of New Orleans and the state of Mississippi have become a safe haven for many middle class citizens They have purchased second homes made possible by foreclosed

properties and lower real-estate rates Last year developers came up with a plan to build a mini New Orleans in Macomb Mississippi

The homes are geared towards middle class citizens who want a piece of home while waiting out storms in their home town (Read 2007: 1, 3) It is interesting to note that many of New Orleans residents fear another flood, almost as if it is imminent Rebuilding for New

Orleans may not be the city’s only problem Keeping their residents in the city is the new issue Other parts of Louisiana will see a huge rise in real-estate and new neighbors moving into there business areas Although many are looking to only provide a safe haven for future catastrophe, New Orleans still has many faithful citizens waiting to come back home to live

Neighborhoods Rebuilding: Generative Leadership

The Broadmoor neighborhood residents have proven they are capable of taking charge, at

a time when city government has failed Residents, who formerly resided in the Broadmoor neighborhood just west of Downtown, were informed that if a majority did not return within four months the area would be razed and its land would be turned into a park Residents quickly came

together and formed their own commission in which they named “The Broadmoor Improvement Association” This Association would include those who returned and were willing to rebuild and contribute to New Orleans recovery Mayor Ray Nagin formed a rebuilding commission to ensure the rebuilding of areas damaged by Katrina However all the plans have numerous rules that often hinder progress The Broadmoor neighborhood has many historical homes and has been classified as a historical district Many of the home(s) were built prior to 1950 As of this date only 55 percent of its original residents have moved back in, and new residents are

purchasing homes there also We love our neighborhood, says “Latoya Cantrell”, the president of the BIA (Shevroy 2007) The Broadmoor neighborhood presented a rather successful example of

a generative group-think New Orleans has a growing number of neighborhoods forming out of generative style management from like-minded groups at large Residents want to move back to the areas from which they have grown and raised children in Forming partnerships with

universities, private investors and non profit organizations, homes are being rebuilt, gutted and raised to levels well suited for future storms, natural disasters and longevity

Making the New Concept Work

Post Katrina the lower ninth ward suffered grave damages in large numbers Ironically other areas of New Orleans, also endured great damage to personal owned and city owned

property these properties are now being re-zoned for demolition and total reconstruction To date all reconstruction areas of New Orleans are focused on a newNeo- New Orleans A great deal of the city run housing projects are scheduled forreconstruction or total demolition More over these sites will be the new locations of city parks and new housing complexes The new housing plans are geared toward the middleclass with an attempt to integrate New Orleans large number

date closed to its residents Within this mix of citizens are the senior citizens and disabled who survive on fixed incomes The Fair Market Rent report, released recently by HUD states that the average rent in the eighth parish of New Orleans metro area has risen 45 percent post Katrina Prior to hurricane Katrina, rent rates for a two bedroom apartment went for about $676, now the rent for the same size unit is $978 and a three bedroom unit is now a whopping $1,256 (NHLS- FMRR 2007) with rent prices steadily moving upward many residents cannot afford to return to New Orleans The individuals and families that can manage the new market rates will want to live in a stable environment free from constant crime and poverty Despite opposition HUD will continue with plans to demolish and redevelop four of the largest housing projects, demolishing about 3,000 apartments that were occupied by low income residents prior to Katrina The new Housing complexes will provide market rate units and about 1,000 low income subsidized units (Dewan 2007: 4)

HUD and the Family Housing Authority of New Orleans have functioned on outdated material that in most cases goes as far as back 40-50 years ago, when the housing projects were first built HUD realizes the complex needs of residents and the city’s citizens that are hard to place in what they are hoping to create as “main stream society” HUD has looked at the Chicago public housing family study named the HUD HOPE IV; this program effectively housed lower income residents within the middle class sanctum and it worked for many of its residents The housing complexes consist of market –rate units and subsidized units Those hard to place where the disabled mentally ill, and those with criminal records (Reckdahl 2006)

What is the HOPE IV project?

It was a program developed as a result of recommendations made by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, which was implemented to propose a National Action Plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing (HOPE IV Public and Indian Housing)

The Rhizome Factor

Generally what is happening; after Katrina the city’s project housing that was home to some 900-2,000 residents each, were fenced up and closed down With all the projects residents living in neighboring states or with relatives and friends within the city are now permanently displaced Construction on many of the new planned middle class housing has taken a route of slow and long winded progress Low income, co-dependant residents are left with the notion of patience, and hope that they will be able to afford the new housing units Expressed most firmly, within the written interviews of various former housing project residents, was the feeling that they are being wronged and would like to maintain life as it was prior to Katrina; the life they knew as – “life in the ghetto” Their need of family orientation seems to be the popular concern The housing projects have created a situation of extreme social dependency Confronted with

retention, change is not readily accepted by many of New Orleans poor that are relocated to

temporary living environments that are very uncomfortable Sooner rather than later the housing projects were going to need a complete overhaul and restructuring Providing the same type of relentless environment within a society, inevitably will lead to the dependence and the need for poverty level living Outdated structures of the New Orleans housing projects segregated the middle class from the lower class social sector Education, shopping, medical resources,